Letter from Belva Davis

KQED Newsletters

More from KQED

Television Broadcast Archives: Oct. 2009 - Sep. 2013

From 1990 to September 2013, This Week in Northern California was KQED's weekly current affairs
program offering insightful, thought-provoking roundtable discussions and news analysis of the
latest political topics. A searchable video archive of the program from Oct. 2009 - Sep. 2013 is available here including
episode descriptions and program guests. Visit our new program, KQED NEWSROOM,
our weekly news program on television, radio and online, featuring Thuy Vu and Scott Shafer.

Stories From This Week's Episode

August 23, 2013

In a collaboration between KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle series Even Odds, we offer an in-depth look at the daunting challenges faced by African American males in Oakland, and the city's attempt to address them. Three years ago, the Oakland Unified School District faced an alarming statistic -- more than half of its African American boys would not graduate. The troubling dropout rate had many factors at play: poverty, crime, high suspension rates and rising absenteeism. The district responded by opening the Office of African American Male Achievement. Its mission is to improve academic outcomes for black boys by pairing them with black men. While race-based, community mentorship is not new, for a public school system it was controversial. The early results are encouraging, but it remains to be seen whether this novel approach will actually work.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Grateful appreciation for support from a charitable gift annuity established by our late co-founder, Jonathan C. Rice

This Week in Northern California is a production of KQED.

This Week airs on KQED 9HD Fridays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 4pm.
Repeat broadcasts can be seen on KQED's
digital channels and KQET.

Also on KQED.org this week ...

KQED Celebrates Black History Month

KQED proudly celebrates the diversity of our community by commemorating Black History Month. During February, KQED Public TV 9 and KQED 88.5 FM schedule programs that focus on African American themes and issues.

"Boomtown" History of the San Francisco Bay Area

KQED's "Boomtown" series will seek to identify what is happening in real time in the current boom, and also draw out the causes and possible solutions to the conflicts and pressures between the old and the new.